An overview of the festival in 2025, by James Priestman, Festival Director

The second festival of Biblical Literature took place between 3rd and 5th July 2026 in Great Malvern.  The youngest festival-goer was seventeen years old and the eldest was in her late eighties.  The theme of the festival in 2025 was characters and characterisation in the Bible.

Doctor Ronan McLaverty-Head is Head of Religion and Philosophy at King’s School, Worcester. He has degrees in Near Eastern Studies from Birmingham, Oxford, and Johns Hopkins universities.  Ronan spoke on the ancient Mesopotamian tale of “Adapa and the South Wind” and compared Adapa to Adam, the character who appears at the start of Genesis.

James Priestman gets ready to welcome the festival-goers.
Dr Lizzie Hare takes the mic. in a plenary session whilst James Priestman and Dr Ahreum Kim look on.

Doctor Elizabeth R Hare is a tutor and lecturer in Old Testament at Durham University.  She gave an introduction to the unsettling story of Judah and Tamar which appears in the Book of Genesis.

Doctor Simon Taylor works for the Diocese of Bristol.  He spoke about the fear, failure, success and comedy of the prophet Jonah.  James Priestman, the Festival Director, looked at what Amos has to say about equality. 

Rabbi Anna Gerrard read theology at Birmingham University and is now the lead rabbi for the Liberal Jewish Community in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.  She spoke about the discriminatory and abusive attitudes  that pervade the story of Esther and showed why the protagonist’s cunning and courage continue to fascinate people of different religious and non-religious backgrounds.

Dr Simon Taylor and the whale
Mark Waistell sings the Blues!

James Pendle has memorised almost a hundred poems, his own and those of other poets. He gave a recital of his own poems that are monologues  spoken by the Serpent in Genesis, Noah, Ezekiel and a range of other Biblical characters.  James gave a second recital of poems by other poets that connected to the seminars heard at the festival.  

Lunch was provided as part of the festival, which gave all those attending a chance to listen to the musicians and start new friendships.  Mark Waistell and Kim Sheil had both performed at the festival in 2024 and they delighted us again.  Mark is singer story-teller and Kim is a melodeon player who has mastered the full repertoire of English folk-songs. 

It is clear from the feedback on the evaluation forms that many of the festival-goers intend to rejoin the festival in 2026 – it will be held in Ealing, London, between  12th and 14th August. I hope you will join us too.

Here are some comments from the 2025 evaluation forms:

  • So grateful for having these wonderful seminars. Hope to come back in 2026.
  • Very good, I’ll be back. It’s now a feature in my calendar
  • Last year was good but this year the speakers were even better and the increased numbers made it even more enjoyable.
  • Loved it all!
  • This was really an improvement overall from last year. Excellent organisation and thought-provoking material. Many thanks, James.
Rabbi Anna Gerard holds everyone’s attention.
Kim Sheil entertains at lunch-time